This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Methods of Microeconomic Program and Policy Evaluation

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Jeff Borland () (Department of Economics, The University of Melbourne)
Yi-Ping Tseng () (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne)
Roger Wilkins () (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne)

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

In this paper we review new empirical methods for evaluating microeconomic policies. Experimental and quasi-experimental evaluation measure the causal impact of a policy by comparing outcomes in the presence of the policy 'treatment' with outcomes in the absence of this treatment. For example, evaluation of a government program involves comparing outcomes associated with participation and non-participation in the program. We describe the motivation for the use of experimental and quasi-experimental methods, the types of policy effects that they can identify, and how they are implemented. Application of experimental and quasi-experimental methods is illustrated through a brief review of a variety of recent Australian studies that have evaluated microeconomic policies such as labour market programs, welfare payments policies, education policies, health policies and minimum wage laws.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://melbourneinstitute.com/wp/wp2005n08.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne in its series Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series with number wp2005n08.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length: 41 pages
Date of creation: Jun 2005
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2005n08

Contact details of provider:
Postal: Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010 Australia
Phone: +61 3 8344 2100
Fax: +61 3 8344 2111
Email:
Web page: http://www.melbourneinstitute.com/
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Woei T Liew).

Related research
Keywords:

Other versions of this item:

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. James Heckman & Carolyn Heinrich & Jeffrey Smith, 2002. "The Performance of Performance Standards," NBER Working Papers 9002, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Jeffrey Smith, 2000. "A Critical Survey of Empirical Methods for Evaluating Active Labor Market Policies," UWO Department of Economics Working Papers 20006, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Richard Blundell & Alan Duncan & Costas Meghir, 1995. "Estimating labour supply responses using tax reforms," IFS Working Papers W95/07, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    Other versions:
  4. James J. Heckman, 2001. "Micro Data, Heterogeneity, and the Evaluation of Public Policy: Nobel Lecture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(4), pages 673-748, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Janet Currie & Brigitte C. Madrian, 1998. "Health, Health Insurance and the Labor Market," JCPR Working Papers 27, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    Other versions:
  6. Joshua D. Angrist & Victor Lavy, 1997. "Using Maimonides' Rule to Estimate the Effect of Class Size on Student Achievement," NBER Working Papers 5888, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Heckman, James J & Smith, Jeffrey A, 1995. "Assessing the Case for Social Experiments," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 85-110, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. James J. Heckman, 1999. "Accounting for Heterogeneity, Diversity, and General Equilibriumin Evaluating Social Programs," NBER Working Papers 7230, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Angrist, Joshua D, 1990. "Lifetime Earnings and the Vietnam Era Draft Lottery: Evidence from Social Security Administrative Records," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(3), pages 313-36, June.
    Other versions:
  10. Christoph M. Schmidt, 1999. "Knowing What Works The Case for Rigorous Program Evaluation," IZA Discussion Papers 77, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. Creedy, John & Duncan, Alan, 2002. " Behavioural Microsimulation with Labour Supply Responses," Journal of Economic Surveys, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 16(1), pages 1-39, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Peter Bardsley, 2003. "Missing Environmental Markets and the Design of "Market Based Instruments"," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 891, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
  13. Besley, Timothy & Case, Anne, 2000. "Unnatural Experiments? Estimating the Incidence of Endogenous Policies," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(467), pages F672-94, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Andrew Leigh, 2004. "Employment Effects of Minimum Wages: Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment-Erratum," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 37(1), pages 102-105, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Thomas Crossley, 2003. "Econometrics for Evaluations: An Introduction to Recent Developments," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 79(247), pages 491-511, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. James J. Heckman, 2000. "Causal Parameters And Policy Analysis In Economics: A Twentieth Century Retrospective," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 115(1), pages 45-97, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  17. Lorraine Dearden & Alexandra Heath, 1996. "Income support and staying in school: what can we learn from Australia's AUSTUDY experiment?," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 17(4), pages 1-30, November. [Downloadable!]
  18. Richard Blundell & Monica Costa Dias, 2000. "Evaluation methods for non-experimental data," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 21(4), pages 427-468, January. [Downloadable!]
  19. Gerard J. van den Berg & Bas van der Klaauw & Jan C. van Ours, 2004. "Punitive Sanctions and the Transition Rate from Welfare to Work," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(1), pages 211-210, January. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  20. Richardson, Linda L, 2002. "Impact of the Mutual Obligation Initiative on the Exit Behaviour of Unemployment Benefit Recipients: The Threat of Additional Activities," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 78(243), pages 406-21, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Imbens, Guido W & Angrist, Joshua D, 1994. "Identification and Estimation of Local Average Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(2), pages 467-75, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  22. Jeff Borland & Roger Wilkins, 2003. "Effects of Activity Test Arrangements on Exit from Payments: The 9-Month Intensive Review," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2003n25, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
  23. James J. Heckman, 1999. "Policies to Foster Human Capital," NBER Working Papers 7288, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  24. Jeff Borland & Yi-Ping Tseng, 2004. "Does 'Work for the Dole' Work?," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2004n14, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
  25. Meyer, Bruce D, 1995. "Natural and Quasi-experiments in Economics," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 13(2), pages 151-61, April.
    Other versions:
  26. Burtless, Gary, 1995. "The Case for Randomized Field Trials in Economic and Policy Research," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 63-84, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  27. Jeff Borland & Yi-Ping Tseng, 2003. "How Do Administrative Arrangements Affect Exit from Unemployment Payments? The Case of the Job Seeker Diary in Australia," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2003n27, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
  28. Gruber, Jonathan, 1994. "The Incidence of Mandated Maternity Benefits," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(3), pages 622-41, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  29. Davidson, Carl & Woodbury, Stephen A, 1993. "The Displacement Effect of Reemployment Bonus Programs," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 11(4), pages 575-605, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  30. Robert Breunig & Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Yvonne Dunlop & Marion Terrill, 2003. "Assisting the Long-Term Unemployed: Results from a Randomised Trial," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 79(244), pages 84-102, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  31. Denise J. Doiron, 2004. "Welfare Reform and the Labour Supply of Lone Parents in Australia: A Natural Experiment Approach," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 80(249), pages 157-176, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  32. Ashenfelter, Orley C, 1978. "Estimating the Effect of Training Programs on Earnings," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 60(1), pages 47-57, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  33. Alfons Palangkaraya & Jongsay Yong, 2004. "How Effective is Lifetime Health Cover in Raising Private Health Insurance Coverage in Australia? An Assessment Using Regression Discontinuity," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2004n33, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  34. Guido W. Imbens, 2004. "Nonparametric Estimation of Average Treatment Effects Under Exogeneity: A Review," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 4-29, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  35. James J. Heckman & Lance Lochner & Christopher Taber, 1998. "Explaining Rising Wage Inequality: Explorations with a Dynamic General Equilibrium Model of Labor Earnings with Heterogeneous Agents," NBER Working Papers 6384, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  36. Jaap H. Abbring & Gerard J. van den Berg, 2003. "The Nonparametric Identification of Treatment Effects in Duration Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(5), pages 1491-1517, 09. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  37. Garry F. Barrett & Deborah A. Cobb-Clark, 2000. "The labour market plans of parenting payment recipients: information from a randomised social experiment," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), The Centre for Labour Market Research (CLMR), Curtin Business School, vol. 4(3), pages 192-205, September.
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Bratti, Massimiliano & Checchi, Daniele & de Blasio, Guido, 2008. "Does the Expansion of Higher Education Increase the Equality of Educational Opportunities? Evidence from Italy," IZA Discussion Papers 3361, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Wright, Christopher, 2006. "Estimating the Effect of the Chesapeake Bay Program on Application Rates for Enrollment in the Environmental Quality Incentive Program: A Case Study of Pennsylvania," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21164, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association). [Downloadable!]
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? You too can volunteer with RePEc.

This page was last updated on 2009-10-27.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.